Flush ball guide



Get, Z4, 1950 M. E. cRANDALL FLUSH BALL GUIDE Filed Sept. 2, 1947 Bmwntor C R A N D A L L MAX Patented Oct. 24, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEV Max Crandall, Kingfisher, Okla. ,a ssignor of one-half to Marsh T. Sanders, Kingfisher, Okla.

Application- September 2, 1947;'Sfe1ialN nrw-1,610

4 claims. (o1. 1 -5t) return of? thev ball to seating position to properlyV and efciently closethe outlet port.

Having' the' foregoing in mind, one important object of the herein described' invention is to prov-ide'avalve-guide of inexpensive, simple, construction,which may be readily attached to the conventionalball valve to augment and cooperate. with the usually furnished parts to prevent the ball from swingingY laterally from its seat,

and assuring that'the'balll will positively engage the seat of the discharge port, andy also assure free unbindingf vertical movement of thestandardvalve stem in its guide.

A further object of the invention is to provide' an auxiliary attachable ball valve guide of simple construction in-which novel means are provided to enable selective adjustment .of the valve guide length to' accommodate the guide for operation for varied conditions of installation. For eX- ample, the active length of the valve guide may be4 increased or decreased, depending upon Whether a longl or short L connection is made to the-discharge port tting.

A still further object is to provide improved means for assuring that the rlegs of the guide areV retained in attached position with the periphery of an-opening in the bottom of. the ball valve. In. this` connection, a retainer member is provided which may be removably positioned within thefV legsand is ofsucli diameter that it will act to slightly spread the legs against the resilient force of thematerial at the periphery of the valveI opening, this resilient force acting to retain the peripheral'material in associated notches ofthe legs,Y and thus oppose inadvertent or accidental detachin'g of the valve guide from thevalve.

Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part'of the sl'ueciiication,"y wherein* detailed description is for .the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention, without placing limitations on the v scopeof'theinvention defined in the appended' claims.,

Referring to the drawings which are for illustrative purposesy only:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of an installation showing the invention applied to a conventional liush tank installation, certain parts being cut away and shown iny section for clarity;

Fig- 2 is a sectional view through the valve guide, taken substantially on line 2 2' of Fig. 1*;

Fig. 3 is afragmentary elevational view show'- ing a modification of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. l is a transverse section taken through the' valve guide, substantially on line 6-4 of Fig. 3,.v and showing details of construction of they retainer member; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational View, partly in section, of an additional modified form ofv construction.-

Referring-now to the drawings, the invention is shownin one form asbeing applied to aV conventional flush tank installation wherein a water discharge port fitting I'l4 is installed in the bottom II of the conventional ushtank.

The discharge fitting lil comprises a tubular body of the usual constructionhaving an annular seat surface which is positioned within the tank. The opposite end of the nttingyas shown at I3, is' externally threaded'and projects through an opening inthe tank bottom, a circumferentially extending intermediate flange Illbeing provided to formy an abutment and' cooperate with a securing' nut l'threadedonto the end I3 to clampinglyf secure the fitting to the tank bottom. In accordance with the usual practice, one or more gaskets IS may be positioned between the flange It and the adjacenttank bottom.

rThe body portion ofthe discharge ttingi IU includes a lateral extension conventionaltanky over-flow pipe IB-is supported and communicates through a passageway inv the lateral extension (not shown) with the interior of the fittingbelow theannularseat I2.

Spaced abovev the discharge itting, a stem guide I9 is supported; on the over-flow pipe'by means of a collar 2l), andcarries at its outermost end a tubular sleeveI within which there is vertically guided an elongate valve stem 22k secured atrits lowermost endl to a ball valve 23 of' conventional construction.

vThis ball Valve`r is of usual construction, being made of a resilient material, such as rubber or similar composition.` The uppermost portion of the valve, as indicated byl the numeral 24, is of frusto-conical shape and is of relatively thick I2 formed at its uppermost endv H in which thev walled construction to give it a relatively rigid characteristic. Depending from the upper valve portion, the lower wall portion of the valve is of substantially hemispherical shape with a relatively thinner wall than the upper portion. The lower wall portion of the ball valve is adapted to form a seating surface for seating upon the annular seat l2 of the discharge tting, when the ball valve is closed. Centrally of the lower wall portion 25, the ball valve is provided with an opening 26 which provides communication with the interior of the ball valve and drains oi any water which may tend to accumulate therein and which would otherwise tend to waterlog and prevent eicient operation of the valve.

One constructional embodiment of the attachable guide of the present invention is generally indicated at A in Fig. 1, the guide being operatively attached to the ball valve and projecting downwardly into the end I3 of the discharge fitting, and extending into one leg of an attached outlet L 2l which may be attached to the end I3 by means of a coupling union 28. In various installations, this L may be a. so-called short or long L connection to meet varied installation conditions. As it is desirable and advantageous to have the valve guide A project downwardly as far as possible, there are denite advantages to be obtained in being able to vary or adjust the extent of this projection of the guide, depending upon the type of L connection utilized. The manner in which this adjustment is accomplished in the present invention will subsequently be described in detail.

The valve guide is of'cage-like construction as shown in Fig. 1 and comprises a pair of elongate members, which may be of wire, plastic or other suitable material, interconnected intermediate their ends by any suitable means, that which is illustrated being by twisting the wire members together as shown at 29. The opposite ends of the wire members are then bent upwardly to form legs 30 which are angularly spaced about and extend generally along the cage axis, being slightly inclined inwardly from the points of bend 3| in each case. It will be noted that the twisted portion 29 is downwardly bent substantially at its midpoint as shown at 32.

The terminal end portions of each leg are of similarly undulated or waved formation, being provided at spaced intervals with inwardly offset portions 33, 33a, and 33h which respectively dene outwardly opening notches 34, 34a, and 34h, which in effect form hooks which may be engaged over the periphery of the opening 26. The corresponding notches of the respective legs form sets which may be selectively used to attach the guide to the ball valve, and while three sets have been illustrated, it will be apparent that as many sets may be provided as desired without departing from the present invention. With this arrangement, it is possible to adjust the extent of projection of the guide below the ball valve to meet varied installation conditions. The uppermost tip ends of the legs are turned back on themselves to form a blunt end as shown at 35 so as not to puncture or wear the inner surface of the ball guide wall.

For a given installation, if desired, projecting end portions of the legs within the ball valve may be cut off. For example, when mounted as shown in Fig. l, the projecting ends of the legsv could be cut 01T at the points as indicated by the numeral 35, although this is not necessary so far as the arrangement disclosed is concerned. It might be necessary to sever the legs in this manner when going from an extremely long guide to an extremely short guide, and a considerable number of securing notches are provided in the legs.

The guide as described above forms in effect a cage-like structure, and will be constructed of a material having a. slight amount of inherent resiliency. By constructing the leg spacing so that the terminal end portions will be spread slightly greater than the diameter of the opening 26, the ends may be inserted into the opening by pressing them together sufficiently, and then, after insertion, the tendency of the legs to move outwardly under their inherent resiliency will maintain the notches and associated periphery of the opening in engagement and prevent displacement of the guide from the ball valve.

However, as a modification of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, I may provide an additional retainer member 36, which may be of generally annular or ring form, as shown in Fig. 4, this ring being formed with inwardly off-set portions 31 which result in outwardly opening peripheral notches 38 adapted to receive the leg portions 33- therein, when the retainer is mounted within the legs. This retainer is made of such size that, when the legs are in the associated notches 38, the notches containing the periphery of the opening 26 will be spread outwardly slightly and pushed against the resilient pressure of the material of this portion of the ball valve, this pressure acting to forcibly hold the parts in engagement, and also tending to forcibly retain the legs in the notches 38.

The retainer 36 thus opposes the tendency of the resilient forces acting against the legs, to prevent inward movement of the legs and retain the legs in properly spaced position. Moreover, the notches 38 also prevent angular shifting of the legs with respect to each other and produce a very rigid structure.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 5, a cage B is provided in which the legs 30a are bent and crossed at an angle so as to overlie each other, the legs being secured by welding, as shown at 39, or other suitable means. The end terminals in this construction are bent as shown at points 4l), so as to bring the tips of these ends together, the tips being secured into a common internally threaded member such as a nut 4|.

A slightly diierent arrangement is provided in this case for securing the cage B to the ball valve 23. As shown, a pair of clamping members 42 and 42a in the form of discs are provided, these members being perforate and having a plurality of openings 43. The member 42 carries a centrally xed threaded stud 44 adapted to projectr through an opening in the member 42a and make' The threaded engagement with the nut 4I. openings 43 permit free flow of fluid into and out of the ball valve so that it does not become waterlogged, and by screwing the nut 4I onto the While, for purposes of illustration, the ball valve guide of the present invention has been 4 described as containing four legs, it will be ap-H preciated that a greater or less number of legs may be provided, and it will also be understood that various changes in form and construction may be made within the spirit of the invention without departing from the spirit of the invention or extended beyond the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention;

l. An attachable guide for a tank ball valve having a bottom opening defined by an annular edge portion, comprising: a pair of flexible, resilient wire members twisted together intermediate their ends and bent adjacent their twisted portions to provide angularly disposed legs with free end terminal portions of the wire members adjacently disposed and extending substantially in parallel relation; and inwardly one-set portions at spaced intervals at corresponding positions along the end terminal portions of each leg defining outwardly opening notches, the correspondingly positioned notches of tre respective legs forming selective sets adapted to mutually receive the annular edge of said ball valve therein and enable adjustable positioning oi the guide with respect to the valve to which it is attached.

2. An ,attachable guide for a tank ball valve having a bottom opening defined by an annular edge portion, comprising: a plurality of flexible, resilient members connected intermediate their ends and bent adjacent said connection to form angularly positioned legs with said ends free; and sets of outwardly opening notches at spaced intervals and corresponding positions along the end terminal portions of said legs, the notches of each set being selectively engageable with the annular edge portion of said Valve to support the guide and adjustably vary the position thereof with respect to the valve.

3. An attachable guiding device for a ball valve having a bottom opening, comprising: a cage structure having a plurality of interconnected angularly spaced legs of resilient material having free end portions adapted for insertion into said bottom opening; and sets of correspondingly positioned outwardly opening notches at intervals along said end portions, each set of notches being adapted to receive the periphery of the valve bottom opening therein and attach the device to the Valve, whereby the projecting length of the guide from the ball valve may be varied to meet different installation requirements.

4. As an article of manufacture, an adjustable guide attachment for a flush tank ball valve having a bottom opening, comprising: a cage-like structure having a plurality of interconnected angularly spaced elongate legs of exible resilient material extending generally along the cage axis and adapted to be inserted into the bottom opening of the ball valve, said legs having free terminal end portions spaced from the cage axis and similarly undulated in a radial direction at corresponding intervals with respect to said cage axis for simultaneously engaging the edge of said bottom opening.

MAX E'. CRANDALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,632,631 Smith June 14, 1927 2,113,205 Winkelspecht April 5, 1938 2,222,856 Robertson et a1. Nov. 26, 1940 2,230,613 Deady Feb. 4, 1941 

